


Reinventing Love

by dedeecated_dee



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Claudia Stilinski, Alive Hale Family, Alpha Derek, Alpha Theo, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Goong/Princess Hours Fusion, Beta Kate, Derek and Theo are cousins, Derek is an asshole, F/M, M/M, Omega Stiles, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prince Derek, Prince Theo, Stiles is not a smartass in the story, Theo is a Hale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-05-28 18:32:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6340609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dedeecated_dee/pseuds/dedeecated_dee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by Goong, Palace Story (a manhwa by Park So Hee). </p><p>A royal family member is supposed to mate with another royal or noble family member. But what happens if a marriage is arranged by birth between a prince and a commoner? Let's pretend that the Hale Family is alive and a royal family, except Derek is the only child, he is the Crown Prince, and Stiles is the modern "Cinderella".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Goong, Palace Story is one of my all-time favourite comic books and I can perfectly see Derek, Stiles, Kate, and Theo in the main characters of the story. If you've read Goong or even know it, you'll know what I mean ;) It takes place somewhere far, far away (I have no idea what to name the kingdom. you can suggest it!), and I beg your mercy for the lame title.
> 
> Enjoy, folks!

Stiles blinked once. Twice. He was trying to proceed what he had heard because surely he had heard wrong. The Queen remained still, looking at Stiles with no emotion in her eyes.

“I beg your pardon, Your Majesty?”

“You can’t stay married with Derek anymore. Your divorce will be proceed soon”

This wasn’t the Queen Stiles knew. Queen Talia wouldn’t have done something like this. As strict as she might be, she would never have forced Stiles to do something he didn’t want. Stiles was confused. His marriage with Derek was doing fine, they had finally found love between them and they were in love. They were _happy_.

“No! I don’t want to! Why do I have to divorce with him?!”

“I’m not asking for your permission, Prince Stiles. Please understand that this is for your husband’s future. Do you love him or not?”

Stiles inhaled sharply. Of course he loved Derek! He had thought the royal family had already known by the way Stiles always clung to the Crown Prince. But what did it have to do with anything?

“I-I do, Your Majesty. So much“

"Do you want him to be happy?"

"Of course, but--"

“Then you have to let him go”

If Stiles had been asked to choose between separating with Derek and dying, he definitely would've greeted death with pleasure.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek transferred to Stiles' school. What possibly could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, welcome to the official chapter one of Reinventing Love!
> 
> i realized that school in Korea and USA are different and i don't know much about schools in USA because i don't live there (nor am I Korean, but school in my place is pretty much the same with Korea according to the comic book), so it was actually hard for me to transfer what happens in the book to this story but I tried my best! )) 
> 
> i put some scenes from the drama (Princess Hours) too because i thought it'd be less complicated than the book (i frankly just didn't know how to write it lol)

“Guys, I got the answer sheet for the exam! Come here if you want to check and see how much score you’re going to get!”

The whole class suddenly stopped for a second before bursting in an uproar. Everyone except Stiles got out of their seats and went to Michael’s, who claimed to have the answer sheet. Stiles couldn’t care less. He’d rather continue his nap before the lunch break ended.

“Hey, Stiles, don’t you wanna see it?”, Scott, Stiles’ bestfriend, poked him on the shoulder.

“Ugh, why should I? Will it correct the wrong answers anyway?”, grunted Stiles sleepily, burying his face deeper in his arms. Scott didn’t reply. He just shrugged and went over to where all his classmates were. Stiles tried to block all the noises in order to sleep, but they were too noisy, so he gave up and decided to overhear them instead. Michael was reading the answers loudly and so many moans came from the students, they all sounded pitiful. See? Checking your answers after an exam just brings bad luck and heartaches. Thank God Stiles was a genius.

“Fifth question— the capital city of South Korea, Seoul”

Stiles sat upright abruptly, the last trace of sleep flew away.

_It’s not Tokyo?! Arg, I knew watching anime the night before was a bad idea!_

“English, the answer is ‘obstreperous’”

_Shit, I don’t remember what I answered!_

“World History, the answer is Crusade War”

_I thought it was Civil War!_

“Moving on to French. The answer for the first question is...”

_Stop._

“The fourth question...”

_Please stop. STAHP._

“And the answer for last question is...”

Stiles banged his head on the table, then glanced up if anyone noticed his not-supposed-to-be-having breakdown. No one did, so he banged his head again. He was doomed.

***

The bell rang, signaling the school was over for the day. Stiles and Scott were the last to walk out of the classroom and they then proceed to head to their lockers. Stiles was mentally drained, he just wanted to apparate to his bedroom and sleep. Who knew failing your exam could be so exhausting?

“Damn it! It was so much easier to count the correct answers than the wrong ones. I blame you, Scott. I blame you for waking me up from my peaceful nap and making me listening to you all!”

Scott looked scandalised, it was actually adorable.  “Hey, it’s not my fault that you didn’t study well! Besides, it’s not like this is the first time you failed on an exam, is it?”

“Shut up!”, Stiles shoved him and opened his locker, Scott followed suit. None of them said anything for a moment and then...

“What- what am I gonna do, Scott?”

Scott tilted his head to the left, looking a bit confused, though he had a feeling where it was going, “What do you mean, bro?”. Stiles just shook his head, bringing his hand to his mouth. His body was trembling as if he was crying. “I mean, when my father sees my score...”

Yep, Scott definitely knew what was about to happen.

Stiles was sobbing at that time, so Scott just did what a bestfriend did, even though this had happened multiple times. “There, there, Stiles. Your father might be upset, but he won’t punish you too hard. He loves you afterall”, he rubbed Stiles’ back patiently, decided to play along with him for awhile.

Stiles shook his head again. “You don’t understand, Scott”. He tilted his head up to his taller friend, tears pouring down his cheeks. Scott was amazed everytime Stiles did that. Covering your face to pretend you’re crying? That’s one thing. But to actually cry and look miserable people just want to give you money (because candies are overrated)? Stiles should’ve joined the drama club, he would’ve made the perfect male version of Rachel Berry of Glee. Not that Scott watched that. Nope, totally not. He might be an omega, but that didn’t mean he had to like that kind of tv show, right? Stiles already covered it for the both of them.

Okay, back to Stiles.

“If my father knows that I once again failed on an exam, he won’t give me food for a week... Could- could I maybe eat at your house, please Scott? Only for a few days?”, Stiles hiccuped while batting his eyelashes at him.

Scott finally had enough. “Oh, cut it out already! Are you gonna be like this each time you don’t pass an exam? Ugh!”. He shoved some books from his locker into his backpack and walked past his overdramatic friend to the parking lot. Stiles shouted, “Wait, Scott!”, and raced to him. When they reached their destination, they found some people there. They were all in suits and they stood near super expensive looking cars.  

“Holy crap, are those _limos_?!”, Stiles whispered in awe to Scott who was looking at someone in the middle of the group. Stiles nudged him with his elbow when he didn’t respond, “Dude!”

Scott roughly grabbed his right arm, “Stiles, that’s the crown prince! Look!”, he whispered furiously, pointing at the royal family member with his eyes. Stiles’ eyes widened, “What? Where?!”. He looked at the people again and finally caught the sight of the fine specimen. The prince’s name was Derek Hale. He was the heir apparent of the kingdom. He had no siblings and was very quiet. His body was tall and muscular; the typical intimidating alpha body, his short hair was dark and styled in sexy spike. But what made him really breath-taking was his mesmerizing green eyes that made you drown in them. Stiles had been a fan for a long time.

“Seems like today was his first day in our school. His face looks tired. And look at his bodyguards! They’re all so handsome. God, do they select them by face or something?”, Scott couldn’t help wondering.

“Of course! Do you think my prince wants to be guarded by ugly people? No, thank you”

Scott raised an eyebrow amusedly. “’Your prince’?”

“Hey, it doesn’t hurt to dream, buddy”

Scott shook his head, chuckling. “I’m still wondering why he transferred school here, though. I thought royal family members would go to royal institution or something”

Stiles hummed his agreement. “Maybe it’s the kingdom project. “Living as a commoner” or something like that. Or maybe it’s a punishment, I don’t know. By the way, don’t you think he looks a little sad? So one of my guesses are probably right. Poor baby. He shouldn’t experience such ordeal”

“My mother said before the prince was born, our king was the most handsome man in the country, and the queen was the most beautiful woman. No wonder their son is so charming, he is the result of combination of the finest DNA”, Scott told him and Stiles couldn’t agree more.

They continued fanboying over the prince in silence when all of a sudden said prince turned his head in their direction. They gasped and quickly turned around.

“Shit, he heard us! He heard us! Oh my god, my heart’s beating so fast!”, Scott put his hand over his heart while trying to calm down.

“His eyes met mine, Scott! Fuck, I almost died!”

They couldn’t calm down, but instead of leaving, they were stuck on the spot. They stole a glance every three seconds over their shoulders to check if the prince would come over to them.

***

Derek turned his head, staring into space. His head was so full of thoughts, he felt dizzy. His mind replayed the conversation he had had with his mother the previous day,

_“Prince Derek, you’ve reached the age of seventeen now. You must marry sooner”, his mother, Queen Talia, calmly said._

_“But I’m only seventeen, Mother!”, he protested even though he knew it was fruitless._

_The queen sipped her tea before replying, “It’s the tradition, especially if you’re the crown prince. By accepting a young mate, she or he will learn and get used to the rules and attitude of being a member of royal family more easily, for someone who was born outside the palace will not be able to adopt the life in here”_

_His mother continued, “So, unless you have particular someone in mind, we, the royal council, would like you to marry a potential mate that the king himself has recommended”_

_Derek couldn’t move in his seat, he was too shocked. Never once in his life had he thought of being married at seventeen. He had thought that that kind of thing hadn’t existed anymore and he would’ve been able to marry whenever and whomever he wanted. Yes, he knew he was assigned to take his father’s position as the king one day, and he accepted that, but it didn’t mean he had no plan for his own life. He wanted to hang out with his friends (not that he had ‘real’ friends, but still), he wanted to go to clubs and do what the cool kids did. Damn it, he just wanted to be a normal teenager once before trapped forever in palace, and now he had to marry?! Come on!_

Derek hadn’t slept that night. The word “marriage” had kept ringing over and over in his head.

He was still staring into space and not even once noticed the two omegas who were stealing glances at him, nor listened to what they were saying.

***

“Yo, bro!”

Stiles came up behind Scott and slung his arm around his shoulders. After the little ‘incident’ with the prince, they had become a bit paranoid every time they saw any alpha with dark hair. They still didn’t know the fact that Derek had never acknowledged their existences the previous day.

Scott smiled at him, “Hey, bro. I brought a snack. You want some?” He rummaged his backpack carelessly before finding what he was looking for. He held it up to Stiles who immediately looked excited. Scott was holding Reese’s peanut butter cups, Stiles’ favorite!

“Mine!”, Stiles snatched it from Scott’s grip and stretched his hand to keep it out of his friend’s reach. Scott growled while trying so hard to get his precious food back from the devious omega, “Stiles, I didn’t mean it for you! I just wanted to share!” Stiles stuck his tongue out at him before saying,

“Catch me if you can!”

And so they were running in the crowded corridor, shouting at each other. It was a miracle no teachers caught and stopped them. However...

_Splash!_

Face colliding with a supernaturally strong back, Stiles finally lost control and fell down on his butt. But what was that splashing sound? He looked up from his position on the floor to see who he had collided with.

At that moment, Stiles promised to never being mean to angels like Scott again.

“Y-Your Highness?”

The crown prince turned around and Stiles spotted the source of the splashing. The handsome alpha was holding a styrofoam cup of black coffee and apparently the coffee had splashed to his light grey jacket, making an ugly stain. He looked calm, but the glare he was sending to Stiles would’ve absolutely made Scott cry a river. Plus all students in the corridor were watching them.

Stiles got up quickly and moved to pull out his handkerchief from the back pocket of his jeans. He was chanting apologies to Derek, who stood still, and trying uselessly to get rid of the coffee stain on his jacket. His movement was so clumsy, it irked Derek so much.

“Stop it!”, he barked. He shrugged off his stained jacket and threw it at Stiles’ shocked face. “Throw it away”

Scott waited until Derek walked away from Stiles before rushing to his bestfriend. “Stiles! Are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere? Tell me you're okay!”, he babbled. Stiles didn’t answer, though. He looked so very upset, his body was trembling in anger and before Scott could calm him down, he exploded.

“So they’re right when they say don’t judge a book by its cover, huh? Your appearance may fool people, but you’re really just a twisted version of The Beast!”

Derek halted. The students around them were heavy breathing; some looked shocked, some looked actually amazed. That must’ve been the first insult ever thrown directly to the prince. And by an omega no less!

He turned around very slowly, “ _Twisted_ version of _The Beast_?”

“Yes! You know The Beast is actually a prince charming inside, you could really be like him, dude, but noo, instead you’re a beast behind the glamour of a prince charming. But honestly? After this-“, Stiles picked up Derek’s jacket from the floor and held it at him, “- you’re not so charming, after all”

Scott was trying his best to make Stiles shut up and just let it go, he was worried sick thinking about what the prince could do to his friend. He tugged at Stiles’ free hand, whispering “Stiles, it’s enough. Let's just go”. But again, he didn’t respond, he was too busy having a glare competition with Derek, and instead of shutting up, he continued,

“I pity the person who will be your future mate. I bet they’ll have a hard life living with such a stuck-up asshole!”

Everyone gasped. They couldn’t believe Stiles just spat out the A word at a royal family member! Derek’s eyes flashed red and for a second Stiles felt the need to submit but then quickly got a hold of himself. The alpha walked slowly and intimidatingly towards him without a single word uttered and when he was right in front of him, he raised his index finger and pointed it to Stiles’ face,

“Believe me when I say this: I’ll be happy _forever_ as long as it’s not a freak omega like you whom I marry”

Derek moved his hand down and strode away from the crowd, leaving Stiles speechless and very much humiliated.

Not so good of a first impression, wasn't it? But who knew at that moment that they had already been connected with an invisible string of destiny?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i said "in a few days", but i actually managed to finish this chapter sooner than "a few days". though, i can't promise you when chapter 2 will be posted, i'm gonna be very busy this weekend. but I'll try to update as fast as i can!
> 
> пoка!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Will you marry me?"
> 
> "Eheh... I'd love to. But aren't we still in high school?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I truthfully don't know how to even start apologizing to you guys...  
> I'm sorry it took so long :'(((

Someone bumped Stiles’ shoulder.

“Hey, dude”, Stiles greeted his bestfriend.

Scott grinned, “So, you’re ready for the singing exam?”

The shorter omega tensed, “What singing exam?”. He heard a sigh from his friend.

“You mean you don’t know?”

Stiles closed his locker before turned to Scott, “Scotty, did you forget the prince humiliated me just two days ago? I had no time to think about anything else! Besides,” he winked, “don’t you worry your gigantic head, kid. With my singing skill, A is guaranteed”

“Who’s you’re calling kid, kid!?”, Scott shoved him playfully.

They laughed and Stiles slung his arm around Scott’s shoulders, “Come on. I can’t wait to show them my golden voice”

***

They were waiting for their turn in their seats. Beside him, Stiles heard Scott warming up his voice by humming random notes quietly. He chuckled amusedly. He didn’t need any warm-up. He had been born to sing. They were to sing a pop song of their choice (yes, all of them, even the male Alphas. Stiles so recorded every performance for future entertainment), and bless his teacher for that, Stiles chose All I Ask. Adele was his queen, okay? Not literally, of course. His real queen was Queen Talia. But that song? Definitely a piece of cake. Easy A.

“Number 18. Gen—”

Stiles stood up abruptly, shaking his head at the teacher with pleading eyes. His teacher sighed, “Stilinski”

He let out a sigh of relief and walked up to the front of the class, cleared his throat slightly. His eyes found Scott and his friend was giving him thumbs up. He grinned back. The music started and he closed his eyes, trying to get into the music.

“I will leave my heart at the door. I won’t say a word. They’ve all been said before, you know”

Scott was ecstatic. He hadn’t known his clumsy friend could sing. And beautifully, too! Now he was sure, Stiles _was_ the perfect Rachel Berry!

Everyone was silent, captured by Stiles’ singing. Scott couldn’t stop smiling like a fool. _That’s my best friend!_ he thought.

“And I ain’t asking for forgiveness ‘cause all I ask is...”

Scott held his breath for the climax.

“If this is my laaaaast niiight with youuu!!”

As if struck by lightning, everyone suddenly sat up straight. Stiles was screaming now and it was hurting their sensitive ears. His voice had gone from angelic to demonic, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was still closing his eyes and proceeding to finish the song. It got to the point where every body was covering their ears before their music teacher finally stood up.

“Stop! Stilinski, you get a C!”

Rachel Berry, huh? Maybe not so much.

***

“C again. C! I can’t believe it. It’s not my fault they don’t get my musical sense”

Stiles was strolling along the rather empty corridor, grumbling to himself. He was heading for the library to steal a quick nap, but Scott wasn’t with him. He totally didn’t need to be bullied about failing another exam, and he already knew Scott had had to at least get a B; his voice had no vibrato or wide range of notes, but it was so soothing, whichever song he sang sounded like a lullaby.

Stiles was just a few steps away from the library when a masculine voice halted him.

“Will you marry me?”

His body went full rigid.

 _Who is that?_ Stiles thought. _Could it be... my secret admirer?! Oh my gosh, he loves me that much he couldn’t help proposing to me now? I bet he’s an Alpha! Though, I can’t smell him. Whatever_.

“Eheh... I’d love to, but aren’t we still in high sc—“

Stiles turned around, expecting to see the love of his life, but... nothing. He was the only one in the corridor. He looked around. It couldn’t have been hallucination because it had sounded so clear and close. Then he sniffed and caught a smell of Alpha and Beta. He followed the smell until it reached a seemingly empty classroom.

“Marry you?! But we’re only seventeen!”

_Gotcha!_

He was a bit disappointed that the proposal wasn’t for him and that he really didn’t have any secret admirer. But he shrugged it off and decided to eavesdrop instead. He peeked slightly through the window to see who were inside the room and _holy fuck_ it was the prince!

The prince was with a girl. They both had their backs at him and looked like they were having quite a conversation, so none of them noticed the widened eyes on the window nor the omega smell.

Stiles’ heart was beating like crazy. That would be a big news! The crown prince proposing to his Beta girlfriend. Not that Stiles knew that they were in a relationship, though. But hey, why would’ve his ex-crush proposed if that girl hadn’t been his girlfriend, right? He hadn’t thought of the prince to be that kind of person who wanted to marry at such young age. Was he that desperate or was he actually a possessive psycho?

The girl turned to face the prince and Stiles got a glimpse of her face before ducking. She was beautiful. Blonde and skinny. _Must be a cheerleader_ , Stiles wondered.

“Early marriage is a common thing in royal family. Besides, I’m the crown prince. They said I will have to marry some girl the King picked if I don’t have anyone in mind. So rather than marrying someone I don’t know completely... I mean, we’ve been friends for so long—“

“No way”, the blonde cut off.

Stiles gasped. _So that girl is merely a friend? What the actual fuck?_

“I don’t want to ruin our friendship like that. Besides, suffocating in the palace and having heavy, big responsibilities as a queen? Never really my dream. I want to be a professional dancer, remember? If I marry you, I will have to give everything up, won’t I?”

The prince didn’t say anything. Stiles peeked again to see his reaction. His back slumped, looking so hopeless and dejected. Stiles smirked.

_Heh, must be tough being rejected as a prince, huh? That girl is so cool._

A loud voice suddenly cracked the silence, shocking the three of them. Stiles clumsily searched for his cellphone in his backpack while silently cursing himself for being an idiot. He was still looking for his ringing phone when someone spoke, “Who is it?”

He froze, hand still inside the bag. A second later he heard a screeching sound of chair. He didn’t think about his phone anymore and decided to just run for his life.

“Halt!”

He foolishly obeyed the voice.

“Turn around”

Okay, Stiles was not that dumb to do that! His first impression with the prince was already bad enough, he didn’t dare to risk his life any further.

“Hey, I’m asking you. Turn around”

The omega stubbornly remained still. He knew he’d be dead meat if the prince recognised his voice, so he altered it an octave higher.

“Ha.. ha ha... I was just walking by, you know”

Stiles could almost feel the prince frowning. He didn’t blame him. He did sound weird.

“What’s with that voice? Did you by any chance overhear our conversation?”

“What? No, of course not. What conversation?”

The prince tsked, “Genius. I heard the skip in your heartbeat”

“What skip? My heartbeat didn’t skip. Really, I heard nothing. Even if I did, so what? You got dumped by your girlfriend. Whatever. No biggie, man”

 _Ack!_ _Me and my no filter mouth!_

“So you did hear our con—“

Stiles didn’t stay any longer. He just ran and never stopped, even though the prince kept calling him.

***

“Oh my, my Lord. You did not have to make the call by yourself”

John Stilinski didn’t know what to say. When he had picked up the phone, he had never expected to receive a call from the palace, let alone the king himself.

“Please, ease on the tone. I did not call as a king, but as a son of your father’s old friend”

“Even so...”, John gulped, cold sweat started to appear.

“When my father was alive, he told me a lot about Mr. Stilinski. He said he was the only person he’d call a friend. He had always mentioned the promise between them. He even left a will saying the promise must be proceeded when the right time comes. You still have the engagement ring with you, don’t you?”

John sucked in a breath. The moment he had been dreading had come. Just like the previous king, his father had also mentioned about the promise to him, even showed him the ring. But Stiles had been just a little baby back then, so John hadn’t really thought much about it. He regretted it, though. He wished he had listened to his mother to raise Stiles to be a proper omega, so when that moment had come, they would’ve been so ready. Because now? His teenage son was just so... wild.

He didn’t want to imagine what would happen to him to be ‘caged’ in the palace.

“Mr. Stilinski?”, the King’s voice cut through his mind.

“Ah, yes. I do have the ring. But, Your Majesty, I’m afraid I cannot accept. My family is not worthy of... such.  Besides, my son will not be able to fulfill the quality the royal family would demand”

John heard King Hale chuckle on the other side, “It’s all right. He will be taught step by step, you needn’t worry about that. Please understand, Mr. Stilinski, that I would not dare to break my father’s will”

“Okay. I’m sorry, my Lord”, he sighed heavily.

“Great. Now all we have to do is get them married”

***

Derek was deep in his thought. He had known before that Kate would’ve rejected him, but that didn’t mean that it would stress him any less. Now that his only real friend had said no, he had no other choice but to marry the person his father had picked.

“What’s on the schedule next?”, he asked his assistant in the front seat.

“You are scheduled to have a tea with royal family at 4 PM at the palace, Your Highness. Before that, you are free. Would Your Highness like to go somewhere in particular?”

He shook his head to his assistant, “No, thank you. I just want to rest”

His assistant nodded silently and sat straight back up.

Derek was back to thinking about his problem and the person who overheard them earlier. It was a boy, that Derek knew for sure, and had smelt like an omega. He had altered his voice so Derek hadn’t been able to recognise him. All he could remember was the red hoodie the omega had been wearing. If that boy spread what he had heard to the public, it would not affect Derek much. But Kate, that would be a whole different case. He had to find the boy and make sure he would keep silent.

He sighed. His life was officially ruined.

“Hey, why aren’t we moving?”

“We’re sorry, Your Highness. We are facing a heavy traffic, there seems to be an accident involving a car and a motorcycle”

He sighed again. He looked out the window and something caught his eyes. _Red hoodie!_

“Wait here!”, he told his assistant and driver before jumping out of the car.

The boy was walking with someone taller than him and had black hair. He didn’t notice an alpha running towards him.

“Hey, red hoodie!”

The omega stopped, but then he moved his body towards his friend and buried his face in the taller boy’s neck as if trying to hide from Derek who finally reached them.

“Whoa, whoa, Stiles! What’s it with you?”, the taller boy said surprisedly, then his eyes widened upon seeing the crown prince, “Ah, Prince Derek.”

 _Stiles?_ The name was familiar, but Derek couldn’t put a face on it. He touched the red hoodie boy on the shoulder in order to pull him from his friend, “Hey”

As if being touched by a thousand needles, the boy jerked away and yelled at him.

“I haven’t told anyone, I swear!”

“You—“, Derek gasped. He remembered that face. “You’re the coffee boy!”

The omega was dumbfounded, “The... what?”

“You were the boy that bumped into me, made me splash my black coffee. You were in the wrong, yet you challenged me. I never forget people like you”

Stiles sputtered, “I... you...! Well, I’m sorry for that, _Your Majesty_ , but you weren’t so kind either!”

Derek exhaled noisily, pinching the bridge of his nose. Had this omega always been this annoying?

“Listen!  I didn’t come here to talk about that. What... you heard at school, you may or may not have been spreading the words for fun, but I’m in a position where your little words could do me troubles. It’d be best if you kept your mouth shut on uncertain things. If not, you could be in danger as well. Ever heard of “Offending the royal house”? The highest penalty is life-time sentence. So you better be careful”

Stiles looked beet red from shame and anger, yet Derek still could see the fear in his eyes. “I swear to God I haven’t told anyone and I won’t, okay?! So calm your tits already and go back to your palace”

The prince narrowed his eyes, “Keep up that attitude and you’ll never get yourself a mate”

“Don’t worry, Prince Derek. I’ll be fine”, Stiles answered with fake confidence.

Derek’s assistant appeared and cleared his throat slightly, “Your Highness, the time...” Derek nodded once before turned to Stiles again.

“Looks like we have some fate; two encounters in a row... no, three including this one. Though, none of them was very pleasant”

He smirked, “So long, Stiles”. He waved to the omega before walking away with his assistant.

***

Stiles let out a deep sigh after the prince had left. How could this be his life? Three times in a row? That arrogant prince must’ve brought bad luck to him. He looked at Scott who was staring at him in total confusion.

“Scotty, I know you’re so dying to ask what has happened, but... you heard him, right? If I told you, I’d get into big trouble. I promise when everything’s back to normal, I’ll tell you everything”

Scott smiled softly at him, “It’s okay, Stiles. You can tell me anytime. Just because we’re buddies, doesn’t mean we have to tell each other everything”

Stiles fake sobbed, “I know you’re my best friend for a reason! Now let’s go home”

***

Derek knocked the door to his father’s office.

“Come in”, his father answered.

He opened the door and walked lazily to the chair across the King’s seat.

“So, have you made your decision?”

Derek frowned, “Decision?”

“Yes”, his father nodded, “The decision to accept your marriage?”

Rolling his eyes inwardly, he replied, “Hasn’t it already decided even before you asked for my decision? Besides, it seems that you’ve already picked someone”

The King was quiet for a moment. He sipped his tea slowly then put the cup back down on the table. Derek was observing his father silently. Many people said they looked exactly the same, but Derek couldn’t find the resemblance except for their hair and eye color. Derek positively thought he was way more handsome than King Hale.

“Correct. He is a grandson of your grandfather’s friend”

“’He’? An omega?”, Derek raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. An omega. Your grandfather had a very close friend. The friend didn’t see him as king, but as a human being, as a friend. He wanted to give something in return, so he made two engagement rings and sent one to his friend with a letter and kept the other one here”

The King continued, “In the letter, your grandfather offered a marriage proposal between his friend’s omega grandson and his own grandson that would take the inheritance of the king’s throne”

“So that was me?”

“At that time... no. As you know I had an older brother when I was just a prince. So, the “grandson” was supposed to be Theo, the crown prince’s son. However, my brother unexpectedly passed away. So after I became the crown prince and you became the grandson that would take the inheritance of the king’s throne, the responsibility came down to us”

Derek didn’t say anything. How lucky he would’ve been if Theo’s father had still been alive, he thought. Speaking of Theo, it had been such a long time since he had last seen him. His mother and he had moved away to England after the death of the previous crown prince and had never come back ever since. Derek wondered if Theo had changed.

“This is the photo of the boy you will take as a mate”, his father slid the photo towards him, “He goes to the same school as you. He is quite beautiful”

Derek perked up, “He goes to my school?”

“Yes”

“Was that... why you sent me to that school instead of the royal institute?”

His father nodded, “True. It was my plan to get you two to know each other eventually. I wanted you to meet him naturally, but... I guess I expected too much”

The young prince picked up the photo from the table. “Take a look at him. Pretty, isn’t he?”

Derek inhaled sharply through his nose, eyes widening comically. It felt like the time had stopped and the world was toying him around while laughing like a maniac.

“No way...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and prompts are always welcome!  
> p.s. I'm currently writing the next chapter, so I'll update again at least next week!
> 
> xoxo


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A misfortune, a cousin from England, and some hurtful confessions

“NO WAY!”

Stiles had just literally got home from school when his parents had told him the news. They were really the best candidate for the Parents of the Year award.

“I’m gonna get married? With the prince?! Hahaha, so funny! This is one sad joke, you guys! And with those serious looking faces and all that, but come on, I thought you were better than that!”

John and Claudia looked at their omega son worrily as he was going crazy, and really, they didn’t blame him. Not even a bit.

“Stiles, how many times do we have to tell you? Can’t you see the ring?”, Claudia said, still holding the letter of the previous king’s a.k.a Derek’s grandfather. Stiles stared nastily at the ring that was lying on the coffee table in their living room. It was a simple platinum ring, not even one diamond adorned, but what made it special was the “ _Stilinski”_ engraved inside. That ring was Stiles’ biggest enemy for the time being. He looked at his parents who were looking at him as well in anticipation.

“Maybe the letter means Stuart?”, he tried.

His mother handed him the letter for him to read on his own. “ _Your omega grandchild”_ , it said. “Stuart is a beta”, his father chimed in uselessly. As if Stiles didn’t know that! “Besides, when the promise was made, Stuart hadn’t even been conceived”

“Ew!”, Stiles shuddered.

He continued reading the letter and the longer he read, the more it made him sick. When he was done, he put the letter on the table and picked up the ring. He waited a few seconds, trying to even out his heartbeat so his parents wouldn’t be suspicious. When he was sure his parents was thinking he was only observing the ring, he dashed out of the room.

“Stiles!”

“Imma send this ring back!!”

The front door was just a step away when someone big lifted his body roughly and brought him back to the living room.

“No, no! Let me go!”, he squirmed in his dad’s death grip but in vain. His dad was an alpha, and he was just a poor little omega.

His dad put him down on the sofa and his mother quickly grabbed his arm in case he ran away again. John Stilinski sighed tiredly, running his palm over his face. Stiles looked at his mother miserably, “Mom...”

“No, Stiles, listen”, his dad started “It’s the promise between grandpa and the previous king, we cannot break it. The promise with royal family is not something you can break easily”

“No, no, no, no, no! You can’t do this to me! This kind of thing only happens in telenovela or something!”

Stiles was shaking his head vigorously like a mad man, then suddenly he stood up “Think about it, dad!”

John startled, “What...”

“The prince won’t want to marry me. Never! Unless he’s nuts. He’s seen me fooling around a few times lately. Besides!”, his parents jumped “I even saw him proposing to a beta girl!”

The elder Stilinskis gasped, “Pro-propose? To a girl?”

Stiles nodded enthusiastically, “That’s right! She looks very pretty and smart! Girl like her should be the future queen, not me!”

His parents went silent. They were communicating to each other with their eyes. It usually always made Stiles envious and want to have a mate of his own whenever they did that, but the word “mate” sounded so disgusting at that time.

John looked at his son, “Hmm, I got a phone call from the palace earlier. It was very unexpected, but... when the prince looked at your photo, he looked very surprised. He looked at it for some time before suddenly he began to laugh out loud, but then—”

“He laughed? Ha, see! He thinks I’m—“

“He said he’d accept the marriage proposal”

***

Scott came rushing into the classroom, breathing heavily. His hair looked dishevelled.

“Stiles! Stiles!”

Stiles turned around in his seat from talking with Danny who sat behind him, “What’s the rush, Scotty?”

“Did you hear?!”, Scott was grinning from ear to ear.

“Hear what?”

“I heard this from the staff room: There will be a new transfer student, and he’s from the royal family!”

Everybody in the room surrounded Stiles’ and Scott’s table in an instant, all wanting to know about the new student from Scott.

“Yeah, I heard he’s the cousin of Prince Derek and he was living in England until now”

Stiles went still and covered his ears while muttering silently, “Prince, prince, prince, prince...”

“Hey, you okay? What’s wrong?”, Scott put his hand on his left shoulder.

The omega snapped, “Huh, what? No, nothing”, he grinned at his best friend, shaking his head lightly.

Scott eyed him unbelievingly, but let it go and continued his story instead, “The name of the cousin is Theo. Another Alpha Hale”

Someone among the students asked, “How exactly is he the prince’s cousin?”

The tall omega took a breath before answering, “Do you know that the current king had an older brother? Well, he was the crown prince for 8 years before he passed away. His son is Theo. After the crown prince’s death, his wife became a widow and she went to England with her only son although the royal council strongly disagreed”

Stiles looked thoughtful for a moment, “So if Theo’s father had died a little later, he would’ve been the crown prince... He was almost the crown prince!”

Every female and male omega alike cheered loudly upon realizing who Theo Hale really was. They all talked at the same time just like flies hovering rotten food.

“Wow, a person like that is coming to our class!”

“Now that I think about it, he is great!”

“He isn’t just a royal member!”

They laughed and giggled so loudly the male Alphas growled at them to shut up. Please do excuse them. Stiles’ class wasn’t known as the brightest class in school.

***

Derek decided to take a nap after his daily one-hour workout. He put off his boxing gloves and drank a bit before walking to the comfortable leather couch. He was just closing his eyes when a voice disturbed him.

“No one would know that the quiet and calm prince’s hobby is boxing”

His eyes snapped open and he whipped his head to the door.

“Theo!”

Said boy grinned brightly at him. Derek got up and walked over to hug his cousin tight. Theo hugged him just as tight.

“It’s been so long, man! How are you?”, Derek said. His cousin laughed, “It’s been too long, indeed. I’m good, and I can see you’re good, too, huh?”

They broke apart but still holding to each other. “It feels surreal to finally meet you again after 8 years”, Theo said. Derek nodded happily. Before Theo had moved to England, they had been best friends, considering they had been the only kids in the palace. They had been inseparable, always playing together. So when Theo’s father had passed away and his mother had decided to move out of the palace, Derek had lost his only friend and had been lonely ever since. It was great to reunite again.

“I heard you’re entering the school I’m going? Does that mean that you’re going to stay here permanently?”

Theo nodded, “Yeah, I’m trying to make it happen. I missed everyone here”

“And rumours say that you’ve assigned to building A?”

They moved to sit on the couch. “Uh huh. You’re in building B, right? Wish we were assigned to the same building”

Derek scratched his head, “So they in building A made it happen, then? They always said it was unfair...”

“What are you talking about?”

“Teachers in building A voiced up to have you assigned to their building”

“Huh? Why?”, Theo tilted his head in confusion.

His cousin sighed, “The building B was rebuilt when I was assigned there, and building A is really old. It was indeed unfair. So they are hoping building A will get the same care once they get you in their building. Very desperate if you ask me”

Theo chuckled, shaking his head, “Actually, I couldn’t care less about that. It’s all the same” Derek just shrugged.

“By the way, I heard you’re going to marry very soon, huh?”, Theo smirked.

Derek stood up to grab two bottles of cold water from the mini fridge in the corner of the room. He offered one to Theo, “You heard that already? Yeah, that’s right”

The ex-almost-crown-prince wiggled his eyebrows, “Is she pretty? Nice body?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I figured a hot-headed guy like you wouldn’t just accept such a marriage so easily”

Derek laughed, “It’s not free. I’m going to get what I want out of the marriage”. He moved to pick a crumbled paper on the table near the couch.

“Here’s the photo, and it’s a he. An omega. Want to look at it?”, he held out his hand for Theo to take the crumbled photo of his very-soon-to-be mate. Theo looked like he wanted to ask why Derek had crushed the photo but he kept silent. He took the photo from Derek’s hand and tried to straighten it out.

“Cute...”

Derek snorted loudly, “What? Cute? Don’t make me laugh. He’s just a fool. I knew that when I first saw him”

Theo looked up from the photo and Derek continued, “The reason I didn’t reject this marriage is that I figured it’d be fun to have a stupid prince and make the old geeks suffer” He started to cackle uncontrollably, “Heh, just imagine it! I can laugh already! Hahaha!”

Theo just stood there, looking at him funnily and waiting for him to calm down. It seemed that the marriage stressed him more than he had thought.

Derek cleared his throat, “Uh, you may see him often. He’s in the same building as you”

“Yeah? Which class?”, Theo sounded interested.

“Hm. Class C, I think”

“Class C?!”

“Yeah, why...”, Derek trailed off. Theo looked surprised.

“Are you in...?”

Theo nodded wordlessly.

***

Stiles threw himself on the bed face first carelessly. He had just done his homework so all he had to do now was to wait for dinner, but his brain was an evil little thing, it showed him the picture of Derek Hale of all things the second his body touched the bed.

“Gah!”, he screamed into his pillow.

He rolled over, hugging another pillow tightly to his chest, “This can’t be happening! Why in the world would he accept this marriage? After he was dumped... maybe he has a vengeance on the world? Maybe he’s gone crazy and would accept literally anyone? Ugh, but why me!”, he rolled back onto his stomach and cried himself to sleep.

A few hours later someone knocking on his door woke him up but Stiles made no move to answer it. He was tired emotionally. He checked the time on his phone and found out that he had slept for four hours. He closed his eyes again, dinner forgotten. The door opened and he heard someone walking towards him.

“Bro, get up”, Stuart, his dear younger brother, put a hand on his shoulder. “Just spending your time on the bed won’t solve anything. Come on, at least eat your dinner”

Stiles whined pitifully, “It’s no time to eat! What am I gonna do?! Maybe I should pack and run away from home”

“My poor brother...”

“Stuart...”, he sobbed, getting up to face his brother “What am I gonna do— Huh?! Hey, what happened to your hair! Where is your nest-like hair?”, he pulled down his brother’s head that was apparently bald. His brother let him while giggling.

“Since you’re going to be the mate of the crown prince, the media will be here. I want them to see me radiating charisma...”, Stuart stood up and run his hands over his bald head “How is it? Do I look like Bruce Willis now? Or maybe Vin Diesel? Huh? Huh? Hahaha!”

Stiles gritted his teeth in annoyance. He watched as his narcissistic brother admiring himself in the mirror next to his bed.

“Get out!”

He kicked the bald boy and turned to lay down again, covering his head with pillow while his brother muttering angrily.

***

The next day Theo was standing beside the teacher in front of the class. His eyes were roaming through the class, trying to find the omega in the photo.

“Kids, this is Theo Hale from England. I’m sure you already know who he is. I hope all of you get along with him well”, the teacher was finished introducing him to the class when he finally found the person he had been looking for.

The omega was skinny but not too thin. He had brown hair and also brown eyes, he got a cute upturned nose and moles scattered all over his face and neck. He was beautiful.

“Please have your seat”

“Ah, yes”, Theo nodded distractedly before walking to his seat in the back of the room. When he passed the omega’s seat, their eyes met and Theo gave him a sweet smile. He missed the confused look thrown at him from the brunet as he continued walking.

“ _If that boy is Derek’s mate, he’ll be my brother-in-law, huh?”_  Theo thought.

Somehow he wasn’t happy with that idea.

***

"Where the fuck is he?"

Stiles was meeting with his friend, Jordan, in building B. He had asked to borrow some DVDs from him and his friend had told him to meet him in building B. While waiting for the beta, he was observing the building that was totally different from building A, he was even sure the windows were bullet-proof. All that just for that _prince_.

“Stiles!” He turned his head to the source of the voice and saw Jordan running towards him. He smiled.

“Hi, Jordan”

Jordan handed him the DVDs, “Here you go. Take good care of them, okay?”

“Of course”, Stiles rolled his eyes. He looked through the DVDs and noticed something was missing “Hey, where is that internship at Google movie you told me about?”

“Ah!”, his friend slapped his forehead “I forgot. I’ll get it now. Wait here!”

Stiles was just opening his mouth to say it was okay but the handsome beta just took off. He sighed and looked at the DVDs again. A figure appeared from the corner of his eye and he looked up. “Hey, Jordan. That was f...”

It was Derek Hale.

“...fast”, Stiles whimpered and moved to run but the prince grabbed his arm and dragged him to a secluded area near toilets.

“We need to talk”, Derek let go of his arm and crossed his own arms. Stiles rubbed his arm because the prince’s grip had been freaking painful.

“You heard eveything from your father, right? Are you getting prepared?”

“Wha-what do you mean?”, Stiles stuttered.

Derek rolled his eyes, “The wedding is in fall which is two months away. You will probably have to enter the palace a few times before that”

Stiles choked, “What are you saying? Why do I have to go to the palace before the wedding?”

Derek moved forward until their faces just a few inches apart.

“Don’t act like you don’t know. I know it, and you surely do, too” Stiles didn’t say anything, just looked at him.

The prince sighed, pulled himself backwards, “Looks like now’s not the time to talk. Well then, we’ll talk about this next time” He shrugged and turned to leave.

“Why don’t you marry someone you like?”

“What?”, he turned back at Stiles.

“You even had a girl you proposed in that classroom that time! Why did you tell them you’d accept the marriage proposal?”

Stiles took a breath, “Think again. They won’t listen to me, so you should stand up for this. I don’t think they would let the marriage go on if you insist that you have someone else in mind. So...”

“You really are funny, you know that?”, Derek cut off “Do you think I’m cruel enough to make the one I love being forced to live in the palace like a doll?”

Stiles stiffened, “Then... what am I?”

“I don’t care about you. That’s why I’m letting you to be my spouse”

Derek watched him from head to toe, “Do you honestly think I’m happy to marry you? You should be thankful that I’m accepting you without any rejection”

“What did you say?! Are you saying I should be thankful for being forced to live like a doll?”

“Shut up”, Derek said coldly “No matter what reasons there are in this marriage, you are going to be my mate. To be my mate your quality has to be upgraded. You do know that you’re not qualified to be a queen, right? Frankly I don’t want to be looked down just because of some foolish mate. If you really can’t put up with this, I will ask my mother to send someone to teach you some etiquette”

“Etiquette...”, Stiles growled. His body was shaking so bad from anger and he could barely contain himself. With unclear mind, he swung his fist.

“You’re the one who should be taught that!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops?
> 
> Comments and prompts are love! muah!


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING, LEMME APOLOGIZE FIRST!!!!
> 
> ...okay, um... IM SORRRRRYYYYYY!!!! it's not too late, is it?? tell me it's not DDDD':
> 
> I can't express how sorry I am to you guys, especially to those who always comment and support this story. I'm really thankful you're still here, you have no idea *virtually hugs you*

Derek stumbled back, hand on his throbbing cheek. He groaned in pain and Stiles panicked.

  
_Shit!_ he thought. He covered his face with his hands and peeked at the fallen prince through his fingers. _How long will I be in jail and get fined by this?_ In his head running nightmarish scenarios, like, where police officers came busting into his room at ass o’clock in the morning and dragged him out by brutal force. There would be so many police cars and heli and crazy reporters screaming out his name outside his house. His mother and father would cry while trying to get him free from the grip of the strong Alpha officers, and Stuart... Stuart would be waving gleefully at him like a good little brother that he was.

  
“Ugh...”

Stiles snapped back to reality and looked at Derek who was still holding his cheek. Apparently when Stiles had punched him, he had done it with all his heart because it was so clear that there was a huge ugly bruise on the prince’s cheek. Derek narrowed his eyes at him and yelled.

“What are you doing standing there! Apologize right now!”

“Uh... I...”, Stiles stuttered.

 _Do it, Stiles!_ his mind practically screamed. _Even if you have to lower yourself and kiss his feet, you ought to ease his anger or you’ll be in danger!_

Stiles slowly looked up at him, widening his eyes and curving down his lips. He was trying to imitate Scott’s super no-one-can-resist pout. He blinked a few times in slow motion, trying so hard to deliver his apology to Derek, who, by the way, was just staring, uninterested. Derek raised his eyebrow at him, but Stiles was still not saying anything, just full on pouting.

“Are you trying to offend me?!”, Derek eventually said.

“What?”, Stiles shook his head vigorously, “No, no, no. You have to look at my face closely. Look!”, he then pouted again, which just made Derek angrier.

“Shut up! Ugh, you’re so annoying!”

The prince looked like he was on the verge of shifting, but he took a deep breath and turned to walk away instead. He glanced over his shoulder at Stiles before leaving.

“You’re lucky I’m busy, so I’m letting you get away with this this time. But if you do something like this again when we’re married, I’ll hang you like a sandbag for my boxing practice”

Stiles waited until Derek was out of his sight before sighing in relief. For a moment there, he had thought that Derek would’ve shifted and broken his neck.

 _Huh_ , he thought. Maybe that idiot prince wasn’t so idiot after all.

***

His cheek was still throbbing but Derek ignored it and kept walking. Damn, that omega was a beast. Even before they were married, he had dared to punch him, and it hurt, too! What’s next? Kicking his balls? Derek shivered at the thought. He didn’t blame his grandpa, though. He and Stiles had been just kids when their grandpas had arranged their marriage. They wouldn’t have known that Stiles would’ve grown up wild. Derek sighed. He had so much work in his hands.

Suddenly his cellphone vibrated. He pulled it out of his shirt’s pocket and opened the new message, undoubtedly from Kate, considering the only people who had his number were the beta, his parents, and his assistant, and only Kate would’ve sent messages.

“Where are you? I wanna talk”, the message said.

“Meet me there in 5”, Derek typed his answer. He didn’t need to tell her where, for ‘it’ had been their usual meeting spot ever since Derek had moved into their school. But yes, you guess right. ‘It’ was the exact same spot where Stiles had first eavesdropped them.

Derek had met Kate when he had run away from home. Teenage crisis, if you wish to call it. Derek had been sitting alone on a bench at the train station with a cap covering his face when she had come and sat beside him. Derek had glanced silently at her and noticed that she had had a backpack with her. Moreover, she had looked so indifferent.

“ _Are you, by any chance_ ,” he had said, “ _running away from home, too?_ ”

Derek’s train of memories stopped as soon as he arrived at his destination and heard Kate’s heartbeat before he even saw her. He opened the door to the unused classroom and immediately closed it the second he was inside. Kate was leaning on one of the desks and staring out the window. Derek had absolutely no idea what she wanted to talk about, it kinda freaked him out for Kate was always serious. Kate Argent was no joke, Derek had learned it the hard way.

“Is it true?”, the beta started, still not looking his way.

Derek frowned.

“What are you talking about?”

She seemed to hesitate for a moment before at last turning her body to face him. She had an unreadable expression on her face and Derek grew more confused.

“I was wondering if you still had me in your mind. Rumour has it that the one who’s gonna marry you goes to this school, too. I was wondering that the omega who overheard us might have spread the world and—“

“Don’t worry, it’s not you”

Her eyes widened at that and for a second Derek had thought that there had been disappointment flickered over her face, but that might’ve been his imagination.

“Th-then about the rumour...”, she said hesitantly.

Derek sighed. He moved towards the nearest window and looked down, hands in the pockets. “Didn’t I tell you? People up there already decided on someone. I found out just recently that that ‘someone’ goes to the same school as I do”

“Who is it?”, she inquired.

The tall prince chuckled and shook his head.

“Maybe fate does exist...” he said, tearing his gaze from the schoolyard to the girl in front of him, “He happened to witness his future husband proposing another were”

***

“Mom!”, Stiles shouted as he put his backpack carelessly on the sofa.

“In here, Stiles!”, came a reply from the kitchen. The young omega then ran to the kitchen and saw his mother kneading a dough on top of the table. He frowned, tilting his head to one side. His mom was making a cake at noon? This couldn’t be good. If his mom baked at unusual times, it always meant that she was stressed. Stiles slowly approached her.

“Hey, sweetheart. How was school?”, Claudia smiled at her son. There was flour on her right cheek.

Stiles waved his hand nonchalantly. “Same old, same old. What are you making, mom?”

Claudia smirked a little before turning around to grab something.

“Tada!”

Stiles perked up as if his mother had just told him that the engagement was off. “You’re making something Nutella!” His mother chuckled at her son’s excitement. She put the jar of happiness beside her dough and opened the lid.

“Yes, and more exactly, braided Nutella bread. How does it sound?”

Stiles walked up to his mother and put his arm around her shoulders. “Fantastic. As always. Soo... What can I help with it?”

They ended up working together. In silence. Total silence. Stiles felt like he was waiting for a time-bomb to explode. He glanced at his mother every once in awhile but she never said anything, just humming a song he didn’t recognize. They finished braiding the bread and Stiles moved to put the tray into the oven.

“The Queen wants to meet you in person tomorrow”

 _Great. Well done, mom. You really totally completely got me. Standing ovation. I’m even taking a bow right now._ Stiles was stuck bending over in front of the oven, shocked to nearly death by the calmness of his mother. He carefully placed the tray on the first rack before standing back up.

“There is not much time left on the marriage. There are a lot of things to prepare. She probably wants you meet you for that”, his mother continued, looking at the oven rather than at him.

“Mom”, he tried.

“She said she’d send a car tomorrow morning—“

“No, mom, no. Stop! Just hold on, okay?”

Claudia stopped talking, but then she proceed to clean up instead of staying to hear him. Stiles leaned on the table, watching his mother.

“What’s wrong, mom? Why are you on their side? I thought at least you’d be on my side. Do you really want me to go to the palace and never see you again? Why am I the only one who has to sacrifice?”

His mother stopped for a second before resuming wiping the table.

“I’d rather make you unhappy...”

Stiles gasped, “What?”

“...then make your deceased grandfather disappointed in us. In me, his daughter. If the marriage ended up cancelled, it would mean that we had seriously disrespected not only him or Derek’s grandfather, but their true friendship, too. I know you might think that because he’s not here anymore, we can just forget about his last wish. But you must not forget that he was my father. Do you honestly think you can live with that? Can you really do that to me?”

Stiles bowed his head dejectedly. Tears were forming in his eyes.

“So that’s it, then. I’m being sold to the palace?”

Claudia looked up at him, looking so offended. “What are you saying?!”

“Did they offer you money, mother?”

“Stiles...”

Stiles looked steadily at her, a sarcastic smirk on his face despite a lone tear just rolled down from his eye.

“Why not? I know that money is always tight for us, not to mention dad’s debt that has to be paid before the end of the year or our house is gone. I know that if I become the prince, the palace won’t possibly ignore our financial situation. Besides, I’m no good at anything except burdening you, so why refuse the offer that would only come once in a lifetime. Right?!”

_Slap!_

A shaky hand reached up to a stung cheek. His mother had never hit him, not even once. He must’ve deeply hurt her feeling. He really wanted to apologize, but he was hurt, too. He looked at her, frightened, and he found that her face was a mess. Her eyes had shifted to omega purple colour and they acted like waterfalls, tears streamed down uncontrollably.

“How dare you...”

She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration before looking at him again.

“Yes, I’m tired of being poor. Yes, I don’t want any more crap from the debt collector. I want to sell you and live my life without financial worries! Are you satisfied now?!”  
None of them said anything after. Just panting and staring into each other’s watery eyes.

“I’m sorry that I slapped you. But you really shouldn’t have spoken like that. Of course I know how much you suffer. You’re the one who suffers the most from this. But don’t you ever think that I’m dancing in happiness right now. I actually suffer, too”

Claudia turned around and went out of the kitchen, leaving Stiles behind.

***

The next morning Stiles was all dolled up. He wore his best clothes and shoes. Stuart and their father were walking him to the car that had arrived at exactly 8 o’clock. He noticed that there were in fact two cars and saw five men in black standing before the first car. They all bowed when they saw him. Stiles turned to his father.

“Take care of yourself. Behave and don’t embarrass yourself”, his father said.

“Mother...?”

John cleared his throat. “She’s not feeling well. She’s in her room”

“Oh”, it hurt. His mother didn’t even want to say goodbye. One of the men opened the passenger door and waited patiently at him. He hugged his father first and then Stuart. Stuart didn’t mock him like usual, Stiles figured that was because he could sense something wrong between him and their mother. He glanced at his house for the last time, hoping his mother would come running outside. She wasn’t. He got inside the car and the bodyguard closed it. Inside, there was a woman, around mid-twenties. She was smiling at him like she was paid to do that. Well, maybe she was.

“Safety belt, please, Mr. Stilinski”, the woman said, motioning to said belt beside Stiles.

“Ah, yes”

The woman shifted her eyes to the tablet on her hands. “Her Majesty is waiting for you in the palace”

Stiles nodded nervously. The reality seemed to just dawn on him. He gasped quietly. He was going to confront The Queen... Would he even be able to speak?

“Could we go now, Mr. Stilinski?”, Stiles had forgotten the woman beside him. He rasped out a ‘yes’ before awkwardly coughing to clear his throat. There was still no sign of his mother.

“Wait!”

Someone harshly knocked the car window; his mother. She was panting.

Stiles hurriedly opened the door and hugged his mother tight. They embraced each other for a moment, then she whispered to him.

“Don’t feel small,” she said, “speak up your mind. Tell them what you have in mind. Don’t embararss yourself. Got it?”

Stiles nodded on her shoulder. They broke apart and she pushed him back into the car, making ‘shoo-shoo’ motion with her hands.

“Off you go!”

The car started. His mother was waving at him with a big grin while his father and brother just smiled. Stiles waved back half-heartedly. God, he wasn’t even married yet.

_But my mind is up. I have to be brave._

***

Stiles had never thought he could’ve entered the palace and sat right in front of The Queen. He was trying so hard to calm his heart beating like crazy because he was afraid the sound of it disturbed her. On the other side, Queen Talia was silently observing him.

“Have this nice cup of rosella tea, Mr. Stilinski”, she motioned to the beautiful cup in front of him while picking up her own to her lips. Stiles followed suit.

Queen Talia put the cup back down. “I suppose you’re not satisfied with this marriage very much; I can tell easily just by looking at your face”

If Stiles almost choked, he didn’t show it.

“I understand perfectly,” she continued, “it is indeed a heavy responsibility, being the husband of the crown prince, yes? And to make it worse, you are marrying a man to whom you have barely spoken. However, Mr. Stilinski, this is the will of the previous king. We cannot break his will, can we?”

He had never been attacked by so much ‘alphaness’ before.

“While on the way here, you probably made up your mind to refuse this marriage, but it’s too late to...”

“Actually, Your Majesty”, The Queen shut up instantly. Stiles looked at The Queen right in her eyes.

“I came here to say that I accept the proposal”

The Queen looked surprised, obviously. Then she smiled.

“Wise choice. I thought you were against this strongly”

“I have something to ask, though”, Stiles interrupted.

“What is it?”

“I...”

_I was, in the beginning. I was going to stand against this marriage with everything I had. But then..._

“What is it, Mr. Stilinski?”, The Queen repeated.

_But when mom was waving her hand with a forced happy smile, when I saw her worn-out dress..._

He took a deep breath.

“I’m not trying to be a good daughter, but... as you probably know, my father is retiring in a year and my mother is a housewife”

The Queen raised an eyebrow. “So?”

“So, I...” he gulped, “I would like you to ease their financial situation—“

“In short, you want a reward for sacrificing yourself”

All blood left the omega’s face.

“Absurd, unlike your appearance. How dare you ask for a price when you are marrying a royal family member?”

“I wasn’t asking for a price. I was asking for a favor...”

“That is none of your concern!”, the Queen raised her voice. “The royal family will do what is needed to bring your family’s pride up”

Stiles looked down, ashamed. “I’m sorry”

He heard her sighing. “Well, then. Since you agreed, the only thing left to do is make announcement. The prime minister has come to visit the King this morning. As we speak, he is perhaps having a meeting with the cabinet and will soon make the announcement to the public. You should be able to hear it on TV when you get home”

***

His head felt heavy. When he got home, he would hibernate in his room. Not sleep. Hibernate. His body swayed a bit before getting caught by the woman who had picked him up earlier.

“Are you all right, Mr. Stilinski?”, she asked. Stiles just nodded. He was having a hard time convincing himself that he hadn’t done wrong. That he was doing it all for his family.

He was close to the car when he saw Derek in casual clothes.

“Hey”, the prince greeted. Stiles looked away, pretending he hadn’t heard him in the first place. Derek walked closer.

“Going home already?” Still no answer.

“What’s with that look on your face? Are you sick?”

Stiles got tired and finally stared at him with cold eyes. “Step aside. I have to go now”

The woman looked scandalized. “Mr. Stilinski—!”

Derek turned to her. “Could you give us some privacy?”

“Ah, of course, sir—”

“No, you don’t need to”, Stiles said. “I’m going. Where’s the car?”

Stiles walked away without once looking back at the confused prince.

When he arrived home, he made a bee line to his room, didn’t bother to greet his family. Both his parents frowned at his behaviour, though they let him be.

“I’m dying to know what’s wrong with him...”, Claudia said to her husband four hours later. John nodded his agreement.

“He hasn’t come out. Not even to drink or eat”

Inside the room, Stiles wasn’t crying. His eyes didn’t even wet. Instead they were empty, lifeless. Like he had gone depressed.

I must’ve gone crazy. I only tried to be a good son. If only I were much braver...

His head snapped up.

“Maybe I can cancel it”, he muttered “I can go to the ministry and tell them I don’t want to marry. They are going to make the announcement at 7 PM. I still have time!”

He got up from the bed, hurriedly grabbed the nearest jacket and put it on.

“Stiles!”, his parents exclaimed when they heard the door to their son’s room roughly opened. Stiles rushed past them to put on his shoes.

“Stiles, where are you going?”

“Going for a walk”, he replied emotionless.

“Wait! It’s getting late! Where are you going, Stiles?”

Stiles didn’t answer and bolted out of the house. He ran, and ran, until he was out of breath. He stopped at a red light and glanced to his side, there was a man reading a newspaper. Nothing seemed out of ordinary, except...

His picture was on it.

He mumbled ‘excuse me’ before impolitely snatching the newspaper from the man. The man got offended but Stiles couldn’t bring himself to care. In fact, he couldn’t focus on anything except on his picture and the headline above it.

“Have you heard, George? The Crown Prince Derek is getting married!”, he heard someone talking behind him. He turned around and it turned out to be a news program on TV. The two news reporter were talking animatedly and not long after that they showed another picture of him, saying he was ‘the lucky cinderella’.

_No... No way..._

He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he suddenly felt like all eyes were on him, recognizing him as the groom-to-be. He rushed back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know some of you are probably disappointed that it's not an update of the Mean series. i feel you, i really do, I am disappointed in myself, too. but good news is i'm on it as soon as this chapter is successfully posted.  
> once again, i'm sorry


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